The Statue of Liberty, a neoclassical sculpture designed by Frenchman Frederic Bartholdi, was a gift from the people of France in honor of the friendship created during the French Revolution by the two countries. The statue, standing 151 feet tall on a granite pedestal on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, was dedicated on October 28, 1886.

On a plaque hanging inside the statue since 1903 is the poem “The New Colossus” written by Emma Lazarus, which contains the following line; “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”